


Friend

by yeaka



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 08:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10185401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Chloe comes with Clark to the arctic.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Fill for “Too Much Snow” prompt on [my bingo card](http://yeaka.tumblr.com/post/153917135000/my-holiday-themed-bingo-under-cut-you-can-make).
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Smallville or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

It’s absolutely _freezing_ , like she knew it would be, but somehow, she thought her coat would work better than this. The first time she found herself inexplicably in the arctic, she wasn’t at all dressed for the weather. Now she’d thought herself prepared, but obviously, her foresight isn’t as twenty-twenty as she likes to think.

She could go inside and fetch Clark, but instead, Chloe rubs her hands together for the hundredth time and presses them against her face. It pushes the scarf wrapped twice around her chin slightly askew, but it’s worth it for the temporary relief. Her eyes sting as much from the cold as the blinding whiteness all around her. She can’t feel her rear anymore, though the smooth crystal she’s perched on is drier than the snow. Wracked with another shiver, she pulls her knees up to her chest and tries to remember the story she was working on—the one she said she wanted to think over in peace and quiet. She’s starting to regret leaving the newsroom; at least it had a heater. 

Finally, _finally_ , she hears footsteps plodding out of the fortress, and she turns in time to catch Clark’s red-blue form appearing at the entrance. He turns to her instantly and dons a weak smile. She knows what that means. Around chattering teeth, she asks, “How was the father-son bonding time?”

Clark shrugs his shoulders and doesn’t answer, as mysterious as ever. She’d pester him more if it didn’t mean having to move her gloves away from her mouth. Thrusting his hands into the pockets of his jeans—because of course, _he’s_ fine in just jeans and a light jacket—he wanders over, sinking knee-deep into the ground past the crystals. “Sorry it took a while.” When he’s standing right beside her, tall and strong and just as absurdly handsome as he’s always been, he gives her a sympathetic look and starts, “Chloe, you’re practically blue. You shouldn’t have come—”

“Nope,” she insists, shaking her head for the show of it and dropping little tufts of white powder out of her hair in the process. “You wanted emotional support, even if you were too stubborn to ask for it, and that’s what you’re getting. Besides, I’ve been needing a vacation.” He gives her that soft _look_ like _she’s_ the one being stubborn, and she begrudgingly admits, “Alright, maybe I’d forgotten just how _much_ snow was up here, but nothing I can’t handle for a friend, okay?” Or more than that. Even though she knows he isn’t looking for that, it’s hard to stop the swell of her heart when he smiles so broadly at her, like she’s the best thing that ever happened to him instead of the other way around. He looks pointedly at the makeshift bench, and she shuffles over, making room. 

As soon as Clark’s sitting down, he turns to her, arms open wide, and he wraps her in a thick embrace that melts away the cold. The last shiver snakes its way down her spine, and she detangles from herself, reaching under to loop her far smaller arms around his back, splaying across his broad shoulder blades. She buries her face in the crook of his neck, cheek tickled by his chestnut hair. By the time she’s finished breathing in the scent of pine and cologne, her skin’s thawed. He radiates _heat_ like a sun. He gives her back a soothing rub that makes her want to cling to this forever, in the middle of nowhere, even if there’s not a single thing to report besides the giant fortress and alien presence inside. 

Then he readjusts them, ducking to scoop up her legs. She bites the inside of her cheek as he pulls her against his chest, bride-style. She clings to his neck, and a minute later, they’re soaring through the sky, their sanctuary just a speck on the horizon.


End file.
